MicroMove 3

MicroMove 3
     by DKFenger and SirWriter

“Hey guys, I'm back!” called Patty from the front door.  She didn't expect a reply, of course.

She bounced into the master bedroom, fanning a sheaf of paper.  “I printed off a bunch of the pictures of you two, aren't they the cutest?  Oh, right.  You can't answer.”

She dropped the prints on the foot of the bed, and carefully picked up the statue of her father and Nancy.  “Let's fix that.”

Patty carried the statue into the middle of the four poles of the cargo converter, and set it on the floor.  She frowned and looked around.  Weren't the lights on the tips green before?  Patty touched the lifeless green gem to restore her Dad... and nothing happened.  She touched it twice more, her expression growing more and more frantic.  “What's wrong?  What have I done?”

There was a loud honk from outside.  “C'mon, Patty, what's taking so long?”

Patty dashed to the window.  “Just a minute, Mom!”

She stared at the control gem, touched it once more.  When it had worked, it had glowed brightly, but now it was dull.  Written underneath it on the pole was “MicroMove cargo compressor Mk IV”  Patty hoped the manual was online.  She turned to go, then impulsively dashed back into the compressor to grab the statue.  As she hurried out the door to another round of honking, she stuffed it into her backpack.

In the car, her mother, Emily, frowned at her. “I don't understand why you insist on seeing your deadbeat dad. You know he only married me because of my family name and influence.”

Patty rolled her eyes, listening to her mother start another lecture about how her granddad built a fortune from nothing and how Patty's dad was a nobody who thought he could marry his way into money.

Inside the bag, the porcelain dolls could likewise only listen to the rant.

“He's still my Dad, Mom.  And he's no deadbeat, I know full well what's paying for my art classes.”  Emily had heard this rant before, many times.  The family name and influence were all well and good, but the family money wasn't there any more.  Emily and her cousins had seen to that.

Of course, pointing that out just made Patty's mother froth even more.  Patty schooled her expression then looked away, trying not to grin at the idea of somehow getting her Mom into that cargo converter.  She'd look so much better as a statue of a rabid poodle.

They pulled over at Emily's mansion, which she inherited from her father. “How can you want to go to that dump when you are well provided for here, Patty?”

Patty walked through the front door, hearing her mother's rant but not listening. She headed up the stairs and to her room, where she set her backpack down and turned on the computer. Once online, she looked up the user's manual for the device and started reading. After a quick search, she learned that the green crystal could be recharged by being detached and attached to a power source through a specific cable that came with it.

Patty sighed, wondering if she could find that cable that could recharge the crystal. She started searching online when her mother called out in her shrill voice from downstairs, “Patty, dinner time!”

“I'm not hungry,” she lied, quickly opening a pizza shop website and placing an order. She then pulled out the two porcelain dolls and set them down carefully on her desk, “You two look adorable like this, the best part of this house, really.”

The statues watched her curiously as she continued her search.

“Stupid cable.  Why is the only reference to an X43-MT7 charging cable a link back to this same document?  Argh.”  She scrolled through the pages of the manual until she came to the contact section at the end.  At least the company had a toll free number.

Calling it left her on hold until the pizza arrived, was eaten, and the box disposed of.  The muzak wasn't even that good.

Patty left her phone on speaker and pulled up her books.  There was a quiz tomorrow, she wanted to be ready for it.  If her grades got too low, she wouldn't be able to stay at her current high school, and they had the best art program anywhere.

The statue was proud of her.  And grumbling internally that she really should have read the troubleshooting section.

Soon she gets an answer from a bored guy, “Hi, I'm Steve. How can I help you today?”

Patty quickly scrambled to her phone and answered, “Hi. I kind of have some people stuck here after using your, um” she read from her notes, “‘MicroMove cargo compressor Mk IV’ thingy on them, and the crystal isn't glowing.”

“Oh, not one of those again,” he sighed.  “Miss, what you need to do is detach the crystal assembly and plug it into the accompanying charger cable then plug that into any power source.”

Patty rolled her eyes, were all tech support people trained to talk down to customers?

“I would, except the charger has been packed using your poles.”

“I see.  The manual is very clear about not doing that, you know.” Steve spoke like a disappointed elementary school teacher. “Well I need to forward your complaint to our specialist department. Can I have your number and email address so they could contact you within 24 to 48 hours?”

Patty grumbled and provided her usual spam-trap email address.  She didn't expect much help.

“Can't I just go to the local MicroMove office and borrow a charger?”

“Sorry, we're online only.  If you have a credit card I could rent you a cargo converter for a day.  They come pre-charged.”

Patty sighed.  This again.  “My mother won't let me have one.  Isn't there any other way to charge the unit?”

“Um, you mentioned your mother.  How old are you?”

“Sixteen.”

“I'm sorry.  There is a way, but I'm not allowed to tell you.  Have a nice day.”

“AUGH!”

Patty sighed at the dead connection, “Jerk! You have a problem with me being sixteen but don't have a problem with people being stuck.”

She crossed her arms and thought for a moment, realizing she could contact one of her computer-savvy friends at school, maybe they could help.

“Sorry you two, I guess you'll have to wait for a little bit longer. I know some people at school and I will talk to them tomorrow about fixing you.”

She opened her closet and hid them inside a shoe box, which she stuffed at the very back of her closet. She felt bad doing this to them, but she couldn't risk her mother finding out and asking her where she got expensive looking porcelain dolls.

Inside the box, Marty was quietly proud of his daughter.  A weaker person would have given up, or been broken down by his ex-wife's continual haranguing.  She was made of sterner stuff.  He knew that she wouldn't give up on him.

Still, as the hours passed in the dark it was getting harder and harder to remember what being human and being able to move was like.  The one thing that grounded him was his permanent embrace of Nancy, and his memory of her excited acceptance of his clumsy proposal.

After a meaningless time, the box opened once more, and Patty quickly stuffed the statues into her backpack.  “Time for school.  You'll be safer with me than you will be here.  Mom snoops into everything.”

Breakfast and the ride to school were uneventful, and so were the first couple of hours in classes. Once she found herself able, Patty headed to the computer lab where her friend liked to hang out.

“Best two out of three rounds?” a guy asked.

“I can do this all day pal, you're not even on my level.”

A shot was fired, “No fair! You're peeking at my screen!”

“I don't need to, you're so predictable. In fact, from my sniping position, I know how your whole team is-”

A bang could be heard. “Who's the cheap bastard who got the plasma cannon? Oh, hey Patty.”

Patty sighed, smiling. They spent their time playing different shooter games in the computer lab, much to the dismay of IT. “I thought they didn't allow you to install stuff on their machines anymore,” she said.

“They put some restrictions,” came a voice from the back, and a laser shot was fired. “I accepted their challenge and here we are.”

“Hey Jenny. Still beating the boys at their own game?”

“You know it, sister.” Jenny smiled, the glow of red plasma fire shining on her freckled face and red hair. “I'll be with you. Give me thirty seconds.”

“Yeah right,” said one of the guys, “as if you could... Hey, don't use that rocket launcher!”

Patty stepped out of the lab and smiled, and in less than thirty seconds she heard the Game Over announcement and was joined with Jenny.

“What is it, Patty? You look like someone hacked your Facebook page.”

“It's a long story. Wanna walk with me?”

Jenny nodded and fell into step beside Patty.  “Sure.  What's wrong?”

Patty gathered her thoughts for a bit as they walked. “Have you ever heard of a company called MicroMove?”

Jenny frowned, wrinkling her nose cutely.  “I... yeah, I read a story about them a couple months ago.  Supposed to be some fancy new way of packing stuff.  It was a fluff piece, but it sounded cool.”

“It is so cool,” Patty enthused.  “Dad got one of their 'cargo converter' thingies, and got stuck as a bobblehead doll for a week.”

“How?”

“I, um, accidentally borrowed the doll without knowing it was him.”

Jenny giggled.  “Whoops.  Was he mad?”

“No!  And the first thing he did when his girlfriend changed him back was to propose to her.”

Jenny pulled up short.  “What?  Your dad, the ultimate stick in the mud... he has a girlfriend?”

Patty stopped beside her friend and opened up her backpack.  “Yeah.  Pretty, isn't she?”

“Woah!” Jenny exclaimed, staring at the porcelain statue revealed within.  “I know you do good work, but that was awfully quick.”

“I used the converter.  Uh, on them.  And... I can't figure out how to change them back!” Patty wailed.

“Well, maybe the poles went out of alignment. Did you push or bump into any of them?” Jenny asked.

“No. Well, I don't know. But the green crystal isn't glowing.” Patty sulked, “I think they packed the charger. The good for nothing customer support guy told me that there's another solution, but wouldn't tell me what it is.”

Jenny was thoughtful for a moment, “Can I borrow your crystal for today? I'll give it back tomorrow fully charged.”

“Do you have a charger?” Patty was surprised. She was more surprised when Jenny answered, “No, but I know the other option. I know exactly what to do.” she had a dark look on her face.

“I hope it doesn't involve pentagrams or sacrificing chicken,” said Patty, and Jenny laughed hysterically. “The way my parents would react if they found out, it might as well be. Jenny, it's sex!”

Patty shushed Jenny, then asked in a whisper, “Sex?”

“Yes, having sex can be used to power most magical contraptions.”  Jenny seemed to be amused.

“You mean you're-”

“Oh, no. I'll just sneak it into a strip club for a while, I'm sure there's enough sensual energy and weird stuff there to charge it up, fast.”

“Weird stuff?”

“Yeah. The Blue Vixen. You might have heard of it?” Jenny smiled. “I’ve read some... interesting stories about it.”

Patty shook her head slowly. “Just be careful.”

“Girl,” Jenny gave her winning smile, “Have you seen how I handled those guys back there? I am always careful.”

Patty nodded nervously, and handed over the dull, lifeless crystal.  “Please make sure it comes back in one piece?  I want my Daddy back.”

The bell rang, and they parted ways to go their classes.

Patty's favourite class was also her last one that day.  Bayview High School has the most amazingly equipped art studio a girl could ever dream of, and she always looked forward to art classes in it.  They were currently learning the ins and outs of 3D sculpting via computer.  While her teacher was busy with other students, she took the statue out and put it into the 3D scanner.  Once the scan was done she tucked the statue away once more, and went to her workstation to clean up the scan.

“Wow, Patty, that's a fantastic sculpture.  Where did you get the inspiration?”

Patty smiled at the compliment, and turned to face her teacher.  “Thanks Mr. P.  I... had a little help from my Dad and his new girlfriend.”

“They posed for it?”

“Something like that, yeah.”

“Very good work.  Once you're happy with it, do you want to run it off in the 3D printer?”

Patty's eyes lit up.  “Oh, that would be awesome.  Do I have enough left in my budget to make it about eight inches tall?”

Mr. P studied the sculpture some more.  “If you don't, I'll cover the balance with the class fund.  This is really good work, Patty.  Keep it up!”

Patty didn't finish all of her cleanup work that day, but she figured she'd have it done soon.  She bounced all her way to her mom's car, waving at Jenny as she went.

“I'm glad someone's in a good mood,” snarked Emily as Patty got in, and that was it for her mood.  Patty quietly listened to her mother's ranting on the drive back home, about whats-his-name her current boyfriend.  Patty had lost track of how many there had been.  This one she called Bozo due to his giant feet, though she never used that name where her mother might hear.  Apparently he'd done something to upset Emily, not that it was particularly difficult to do so.

“Aren't we going to Dad's?” asked Patty once they were home.  “He usually helps me with my math homework.”

“Oh, but sweetie, I need you here tonight.  My nerves are shot, and somebody has to take care of me.”

Patty sighed.  Another night making dinner for the two of them.  At least it was only two, tonight.  If Jenny came through on the crystal, she thought, maybe she could sweet-talk her Mom into visiting her Dad's apartment the next night instead.

After an uneventful dinner, Patty withdrew to her room and wrote a text to Jenny in hopes that she would get some good news. Before she could send it, her mother was standing at her door, looking at the figurines peeking out of patty's backpack.

“Where did you get this?”

Patty turned to face her mother, seeing what she was looking at. “I made it at school. Why?”

“It looks like your deadbeat dad and his good for nothing harlot.”

“Mom!” Patty couldn't believe her ears. “That's not nice.”

“It's true,” Emily insisted. “I'll take this away, if you want to do art you should have a good model to work on. Maybe I should visit your school and pose for you instead.”

“Oh, you wish...” Patty muttered.

Emily picked up the figurines for a closer examination. Her distaste couldn't be more obvious. “Goodnight.”

Before Patty could reply, she was all alone in her room, a thousand thoughts running through her head. She needed to get the figurines out in time for Jenny to help set things right. She looked at her text message, deleted it and wrote a new message: “We have a problem. Need help ASAP.”